Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia
The union of all the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Granada—Venezuela, New Granada, and Quito (Ecuador)—in a single independent nation was proclaimed the Republic of Colombia by the Congress of Angostura in December 1819. It later came to be known as Gran Colombia, to distinguish it from the smaller Colombia of today. It received a formal constitution at the Congress of Cúcuta in 1821, when the liberation of Ecuador had only begun and no Ecuadorans were present. But Ecuador was successfully incorporated in 1822, after the forces of Simón Bolívar prevailed in its struggle for independence.
The creation of Gran Colombia was mainly a result of the personal influence of Bolívar and the manner in which independence was achieved: by armies composed of Venezuelans and New Granadans (and eventually Ecuadorans) that moved back and forth between sections under Bolívar's leadership. However, the union was fragile because of the great distances covered, the primitive state of transportation, and the lack of strong social, cultural, and economic ties among regions. Once the war was over, regionalist sentiments were expressed more forcefully, especially in Venezuela, which staged a first revolt in 1826. The union disintegrated completely in 1830, when Venezuela and Ecuador became separate republics, leaving the central core (present-day Colombia and Panama) to reconstitute itself as the Republic of New Granada. Even then, the separate nations continued to observe Gran Colombian legislation until it was repealed or revised; retained the same colors (yellow, blue, red) in their flags; and retained a common cult of Bolívar.
See alsoBolívar, Simón; New Granada, Viceroyalty of.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
José Manuel Restrepo, Historia de la revolución de la República de Colombia en la América meridional, 3d ed., 8 vols. (1942–1951).
David Bushnell, The Santander Regime in Gran Colombia (1954; repr. 1970).
Additional Bibliography
León de Labarca, Alba Ivonne, and Juan Carlos Morales Manzur. Algunos intentos de reconstrucción gran colombiana despueś de 1830. Mérida, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes, Consejo de Publicaciones, 2001.
Riaño Cano, Germán. El gran calumniado: Réplica a la leyenda negra de Santander. Bogotá, Colombia: Planeta, 2001.